90 



TEA DISTRICTS OF CHINA. 



Chap. V. 



1844-5 was unusually mild. I have no doubt that 

 in ordinary seasons the thermometer may sometimes 

 sink as low as 10° or 12° of Fahrenheit. The winter 

 months are not unlike those which we experience in 

 England; sometimes heavy and continued falls of 

 rain take place, at other times the frost is very severe, 

 the rivers and lakes are frozen over, and the ground 

 is covered with snow. The spring is early and plea- 

 sant. In April and May, when the monsoon changes 

 from north-east to south-west, the weather is generally 

 very wet ; in fact, this is what is commonly called 

 the " rainy season." From June to August it is often 

 oppressingly hot, the sky is generally clear, little rain 

 falls, but vegetation is often refreshed with heavy 

 dews at night. The autumnal months are cool and 

 agreeable, and about the end of October slight frosts 

 are not unfrequent. 



When we consider that Shanghae is 9° 30' further 

 south than Naples, the extremes of heat and cold 

 will appear excessive. But in order to account for 

 this we must bear in mind the observations made by 

 Humboldt many years ago. "Europe," he observes, 

 "may be considered altogether as the western part 

 of a great continent, and therefore subject to all the 

 influence which causes the western sides of continents 

 to be warmer than the eastern, and at the same time 

 more temperate, or less subject to excesses of both 

 heat and cold, but principally the latter." 



Shanghae is situated on the east side of the large 

 continent of Asia, and is consequently liable to ex- 

 tremes of temperature — to excessive heat in summer 



